Naftidrofuryl after acute stroke: a review and a hypothesis.

With demographic change, Western populations are becoming older. The prolonged decline in incidence of stroke, already a very costly illness, may soon reverse. This paper briefly reviews medical treatments of acute stroke that have been popular in the past and finds that they have been generally of little value. The place of naftidrofuryl, a drug with a complex pharmacological profile that includes selective S2-receptor blockade, is discussed in greater detail. Two clinical studies have indicated that, although it may not alter death rate in acute stroke, naftidrofuryl therapy enhances recovery from the disabling effects of cerebral infarction. One important consequence of this is a potentially major reduction in time spent in hospital by stroke patients. Hospital bed occupancy has been identified as a principal component in the cost of stroke to health services. Drug treatments that reduce death rate without improving recovery in survivors have an opposite effect, as has been seen in an important trial of glycerol.